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Feb. 21, 2001
Columbia, Mo. -- The University of Missouri baseball team (3-2-1) will head to Stillwater, Okla., this weekend to meet Oklahoma State and open the Big 12 Conference season. The Tigers and Cowboys play Saturday-Sunday-Monday.
This Week's Schedule: Missouri faces the upcoming schedule:
*Oklahoma State - Saturday, 2 p.m., OSU's Reynolds Stadium
*Oklahoma State - Sunday, 2 p.m., OSU's Reynolds Stadium
*Oklahoma State - Monday, 1 p.m., OSU's Reynolds Stadium
Wednesday's game between Missouri and Creighton has been postponed. The game, which would have been the Tigers' first of the season at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field, was postponed due to the cold weather predicted for Wednesday. The game will be rescheduled for a date later this season.
The Tigers' game with Lincoln (Mo.) Tuesday (Feb. 27) is still scheduled to be played at 4 p.m. at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field.
Oklahoma State Notes: The Cowboys went 1-1 last weekend against Washington State and are now 7-2 on the season. OSU opened the season with five straight wins. Oklahoma State has four players hitting .300-or-better, led by Brian Kraft's .435 mark. OSU recorded a Big 12 single-game high 22 hits against UC-Riverside and 18 walks against Boston College earlier this season. The Cowboys' pitching staff has a 3.35 earned-run average and holding the opposition .206 batting average. Head coach Tom Holliday is in his fifth season and has a 175-85 record.
Missouri versus Oklahoma State: Despite being members of the Big 12 Conference, Missouri has not played Oklahoma State the past two seasons. Weather canceled the regular-season meetings and the two teams did not meet in the Big 12 Tournament. OSU holds a 115-67 lead in the series. The schools split the four meetings in 1998 with OSU winning the past two games, including the tournament contest (11-8). The Cowboys have won the past six meetings in Stillwater.
Solid Start: Missouri's 3-2-1 start this season is one of the Tigers' better starts under head coach Tim Jamieson. MU opened the 1996 and 1998 campaigns with 5-1 starts. The 1996 squad used that strong start to propel its way to a NCAA Regional berth. Missouri went 4-2 in 1999 and was 3-3 in 2000.
Possible Rotation: The Tigers have sent Drew Endicott and Matt Hobbs to the pitching mound the past two Fridays and Saturdays, respectively. No formal decision has been made on this week's rotation.
Recent Action: Missouri went 2-1 at the Applebee's Baseball Fiesta in Albuquerque, N.M. MU defeated Nevada-Las Vegas 10-1 and New Mexico 7-3 before falling 12-9 to Utah. The Tigers hit .340 over the weekend, led by Luke Cassis (.556), Kurt Propst (.500) and Ryan Stegall (.500). In all, Missouri had six players hit .400-or-better. Eleven of the Tigers' 36 hits went for extra bases.
On the mound, Drew Endicott continues to be impressive as he scattered five hits over seven innings and struck out five batters in the win over UNLV.
Milestone Watch: Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson has won 198 games during his reign. Jamieson will become the third Tiger head coach to win 200-or-more games when MU wins its fifth game of the season. Gene McArtor had a mark of 733-430-3 in 21 seasons (1974-94) while John "Hi" Simmons was 481-294-3 in 35 season (1937-73).
Milestone Watch II: Ryan Stegall hit his 23rd career home run in the loss to Utah. Stegall is tied for 10th place with Nick Wilfong (1998-2000) and Kevin LeCompte (1984-87) on the MU all-time charts. Mark Thiel (1974-76) is in ninth place with 24 round-trippers.
Milestone Watch III: Ryan Stegall sits in third place with 13 career saves. Stegall set a single-season record in 2000 with 12 saves and recorded his first of the 2001 season against Loyola Marymount. In other news, Stegall has started 91 consecutive games.
A Tie?: Yes, the Missouri Tigers had a tie game to open the season. The tie was not the first in school history. Missouri tied Illinois 3-3 in the 1986 season and tied Murray State 8-8 in the 1984 campaign. The 1980s decade featured three tie games. MU has been involved in seven tie games since the 1940 season and now has played 19 tie games all-time. A total of 10 of those tie games came between the 1897 and 1921 seasons.
Preseason Honors: Junior shortstop/relief pitcher Ryan Stegall has already collected a number of honors this season. They are:
*Named to Rotary Smith Award's watch list for Player of the Year
*Big 12 Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball
*Second-team All-American utility player by Collegiate Baseball
*Third-team All-American utility player by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association
Sophomore outfielder Jayce Tingler and senior pitcher Mitch Kiler were mentioned as "Players to Watch" in the Big 12 by Collegiate Baseball.
Stegall recently received the "Brock Olivo Award" from the Kansas City Tiger Club as the MU male student-athlete of the year from the Kansas City metropolitan area. The award honors the character, dedication and leadership shown by Olivo during his career as he set Missouri's all-time rushing record.
2000 Recap: The Tigers went 33-24 in 2000 and advanced to the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive campaign. Ryan Stegall was honored as the first-team all-Big 12 shortstop and was named an All-American utility player by two organizations. Jayce Tingler was named to the Freshman All-American team.
Coaching Staff: Head coach Tim Jamieson enters his seventh season and has an overall mark of 198-143-1 and a record of 79-61 in Big 12/Big 8 play. A University of New Orleans graduate, Jamieson was an assistant coach for the Tigers for six seasons before taking over the top spot. He is assisted by Chal Fanning (pitching coach, fifth season), Evan Pratte (hitting coach/infield, fourth season) and Chris Smith (outfield, first season).
Another Season, Another 30 Wins: Missouri has won 30-or-more games the past five seasons and in 14 of the last 16 campaigns.
Success: The Tigers opened the 2001 season ranked 35th among all NCAA Division I teams with 1,743 wins. In its 104 seasons of baseball, Missouri has won 61.0 percent of its games.
Big 12 Openers: Missouri has won its last four Big 12 Conference openers and three of the past four series. Under head coach Tim Jamieson, the Tigers are 4-2 in games which open conference play and are 3-3 in the conference-opening series.
Broadcasts: The Tigers' games this season will be carried on KWWC (90.5 FM) as well as on www.mutigers.com. Saturday's contest against Oklahoma State will be carried on KCOU (88.1 FM). Sean Kelley will serve as the play-by-play announcer while color commentary will be provided by Mike Cronemeyer (home games) and Matt Schmidt (road contests). Kelley is in his third season as the voice of the Tigers.
Home Runs for Kids: Again this season, the Tigers have teamed with the University of Missouri Children's Hospital to develop a special program called "Home Runs for Kids." The program is geared to raise money for sick children at the Children's Hospital at University Hospital and Clinics. The fund-raising program will recruit baseball fans, individuals, businesses, clubs and organizations, to pledge 25 cents to $10 or more for every home run the Tigers hit this season. All of the money raised by the "Home Run for Kids" program will be used locally to fund equipment, research and programs for patients at Children's Hospital. Currently, the Tigers have hit four home runs.
Big 12 Statistics: Drew Endicott ranks third in the Big 12 Conference for earned-run average at 0.69. Endicott's six-inning shutout against San Jose State makes him one of two league pitchers to toss a shutout. He ranks fifth among conference pitchers with a .156 batting average allowed. Ryan Stegall is in a five-way tie for second place with three home runs. He is in a six-way tie for second place with one save. Kurt Propst (13th, .412), Luke Cassis (16th, .400) and Stegall (17th, .381) rank among the league's top hitters in batting average. As a team, Missouri ranks fifth in earned-run average at 3.78. The Tigers rank eighth in batting at .279. Stegall's two home runs against Loyola Marymount is tied for the best single-game performance this season in the Big 12 with two other players. MU's 18 assists against Loyola Marymount are the most assists in a game this season.
Academic Success: Seven members of the Tigers' squad were named to Missouri's Fall Student-Athlete Dean's List. They are:
*Dan Bane
*Garrett Broshuis
*Logan Dale
*Bo Davis
*Mitch Kiler
*Malachi Momper
*Andy Runyan
Next: The Tigers will play Lincoln (Mo.) Feb. 27 at 4 p.m. at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field before returning to Big 12 Conference play against Baylor March 2-4 in Waco, Texas. The Lincoln game will feature a promotion of all fans in pairs will receive admission for the price of one.